This invention relates to a method of providing charge information, and to a service control unit for providing charge information.
The invention starts from the method of providing charge information for the calling subscriber commonly used in present-day telecommunications networks, as is described, for example, in Chapter II.3.4, "Fernvermittlungssysteme", of a book by G. Siegmund, "Grundlagen der Vermittlungstechnik", R. v. Decker's Verlag, G. Schenk GmbH, Heidelberg, 1991, pages 92 to 94.
During a call initiated by the calling subscriber, metering pulses are sent from the terminal exchange associated with the subscriber over the subscriber line to the terminal of the subscriber in order to provide the latter with charge information. The metering pulses are transmitted in the bearer channel, and the number of pulses is a measure of the charge for the call. The metering pulses are generated by a metering-pulse generator of the subscriber terminal exchange, which is controlled by a translator located at the nodal switching center. This translator determines the route to be followed by the call and the metering zone associated with this route. The metering-pulse generator is controlled by the translator according to the metering zone determined.
This prior-art method does not work perfectly if the telecommunications network consists of two or more subnetworks of different network operators. If, during call establishment, for example, a network operator different from the access-network operator of the calling subscriber is selected, no metering pulses can be provided for this call since no charge signaling is standardized between network operators.